7 ms·
The hotels may or may not be themselves run down, but there's also the neighborhood to consider, especially when you're talking about San Francisco. I know som
by zoky 3y ago
The hotels may or may not be themselves run down, but there's also the neighborhood to consider, especially when you're talking about San Francisco.
I know someone who used to travel to SF for work a lot, like 10-12 times a year. He had a favorite hotel there that was a block and a half away from his office. But every single time, he'd rent a car, just to drive from the underground parking at his hotel to the underground parking at work. It was simply safer than walking.
- paulcole 3y agoIt likely felt safer than walking but there is a 0% chance that a 1.5 block walk through San Francisco was truly more dangerous than a 1.5 block car ride. It’s much more likely that neither was dangerous at all.
- jojobas 3y agoFeeling of danger is subjective, I can easily imagine a car ride along shit-infested sidewalks and deranged homeless people feels less dangerous (and icky) than walking.
- zoky 3y agoI mean, okay, but don't you think there's generally a correlation between “feeling of danger” and “actual danger”?
- jojobas 3y agoI'm not arguing with you, I'm arguing with other people here who apparently have no problem walking on shit, syringes and whatever else as long as loitering delinquents don't "look at them crossways".
- zoky 3y agoAh, gotcha, I see what you’re saying. I guess I’d just say that you seem to be implying that the human instinct for perception of danger is not really tied to actual danger. And while one could argue that in the modern day that may be true, I think there’s something to be said for the fact that our instinctual ability to perceive even potential danger has gotten us this far.
- verelo 3y agoI remember spending entire days walking the city. I walked from a VC meeting to a lunch with a friend, it took over an hour. Having said that, a lot has changed since 2009
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Etrnl_President 3y ago[dead]
- HlessClaudesman 3y agoGetting accosted several homeless people in a short stretch feels unsafe, especially to the sort of out of towner who is not inured to it, in a way that driving does not. Both have a very low risk per unit of travel, but in the moment we have no way of qualitatively measuring that risk. I stayed in SF for a few nights, it was pretty shocking to me the amount of homeless people (euphemism creep: temporarily unhoused) and the various tactics they employed to try and get money. One lady was just screaming at people in a fast food restaurant, I guess she was hoping to get paid in order to go away. This was 20 years ago and I hear the situation has only gotten worse since. California treating homeless people like sacred cows is eventually going to wreck their inner cities for everyone.
- freediverx 3y agoMaybe instead of complaining about homeless people we should complain about how capitalism creates homelessness.
- zoky 3y agoMaybe instead of pretending homelessness is a strictly capitalist problem we should look at whether it’s been a problem elsewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotjebi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotjebi
- jojobas 3y agoYou don't have a homelessness problem if you send the homeless to labour camps.
- dismantlethesun 3y agoWhy is capitalism only creating homeless encampments in San Fran and not generally in the US? Maybe it’s not capitalism at fault here but a government that is unwilling or unable to supply standard social safety nets like homeless shelters and addiction therapy.
- zoky 3y agoWell, keep in mind that he was working somewhat odd hours. He would often be leaving work at around 23:00 or later. There are definitely parts of San Francisco where you do not want to be walking even a single block through that late.
- circlefavshape 3y agoOh for goodness sake. He felt safer than when he was walking. Renting a car to drive a block and a half is just ridiculous - unless maybe he's displaying obvious signs of wealth? I stayed in the hilton union square in Feb and yes there are a lot of homeless people and addicts around but none of them even looked at me crossways
- zoky 3y agoI don't know SF all that well personally, so I really can't say. I do know that where the person I know stayed was in the Mission District, which was (and still is) widely known to be among the more dangerous parts of San Francisco. I also know he was routinely coming and going at odd hours, 23:00 or later. I also know that he had a permit to carry a gun, which (at the time) was near impossible to get in California, and that he in fact did so. Nevertheless, he chose to drive the block and a half rather than walk, because the last thing he ever wanted to do was be forced to use his gun. I personally don't consider that to be an “obvious display of wealth”, but take it for what you will.
- light_hue_1 3y agoPeople love the Mission, move there for the night life specifically. It's lively and fun at 11pm. This person sounds like they have some mental issues.
- HWR_14 3y agoPeople who go out of their way to carry guns in cities usually strike me as "more paranoid" and not "more cautious". I am far less likely to trust their assessment of danger.
- tourmalinetaco 3y agoSo because someone values their life and belongings, and has the proper training to wield a firearm, you are less likely to trust their assessment of danger? So then who do you trust? And for the record, Mission has almost 4x the crime rate as California, which is already above the national average.[1] So it seems as though their “paranoia” was paying dividends. [1] - https://www.areavibes.com/san+francisco-ca/mission/crime/ https://www.areavibes.com/san+francisco-ca/mission/crime/
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoEven through the worst parts of SF (hello caltrain station to the convention center), I never felt in danger when walking while visiting. Maybe this guy was a hypochondriac or something? I'm guessing some other factor was at play.
- prepend 3y ago> may or may not be themselves run down That are not run down. My complaint is against writers who are inaccurate. It’s frustrating and wastes my time when writers do this poor quality work with mistakes. And it doesn’t seem like a mistake so much as a deception. It’s not “may or may not” as these hotels are clearly not run down. You’re right about then neighborhood, but the point that the article is trying to make is that it’s the hotels that suck, not the neighborhood. But that’s not true